Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-11-03
ALLAN QUARTERNAIp.
A BROWNING CITY

And now comes question which I find
some difficulty in answering. Are the Zu-
vendi civilized or barbarous peopIep
Sometimes [ think the one, sometimes the
other. In some branches of art they have
attained the very highest proficiency.
AXE, for instance, their buildings and
Vneir statuary. [ do not think That the
latter can be equaled either in beauty or
imaginative power anywhere in the world:
and as for the former, it may have been
rivaled in ancient Egypt, but / am sure
that it never has been since But, on the
other hand, they are totally ignorant of
many other arts. Till Sir Henry, who han
pened to know something about it, showed
them how to do it by mixing silica and
lime, they could not make q piece of glass:
and their crockery is rather primitive A
water-clock is their nearest approach to a
watch; indeed, ours delighted them ex-
ceedingly They know nothing about
steam, electricity, or gunpowder, and.
mercifully for themselves, nothing about
printing or the penny post. Thus they are
spared many evils; for of truth our age
has learnt the wisdom of the old saving.
she who increaseth knowledge increaseth
SORROW"
AS regards their religion, it is natural
one for imaginative people who know no
better, and might therefore be expected to
turn to the sun and worship him as the all
Father; but it cannot justly be called ele-
waiting or spiritual 1t is true that they do
sometimes speak of the sun as the "gar-
ment of the Spirit" but it is vague term,
and what they really adore is the fiery orb
himself. They also call him the ''hope of
eternity" but here again the meaning is
vague, and doubt if the phrase conveys
any very clear impression to their minds
Some of them do indeed believe in future
life for the good know that Nyleptha
does firmly-but it is private faith arts
ing from the prompting of the spirit, not
an essential Of their creed. So on the
whole | cannot say that / consider this
sun-worshfp as religion Indicative of
civilized people, however magnificent and
imposing its ritual, or however moral and
high-sounding the maxims of its priests,
many OF whom, | am sure, have their own
opinions on the whole subject; though of
course they have nothing but praise for a
system which provides them with SO many
of the good things of this world
There are now only two more matters TO
which ! need allude; namely, the language
and the system of caligraphy AS for the
former, it is soft sounding, and very rich
and flexible. Sir Henry says that it sounds
something like modern Greek, but of
course it has no connection with it. 1t is
easy to acquire, being simple in its con-
struction, and peculiar quality about it
is its euphony, and the way in which the
sound of the words adapts itself to the
meaning to be expressed. Long before we
mastered the language, we could frequent
ly make out what was meant by the ring
Of the sentence. 1t is ON this account that
the language lends itself so well to poeti-
cal defamation, of which these remarka-
bic people are very fond. The Zu-vendi
style of caligraphy is at once extremely
simple and extremely cumber some, and
consists of a succession of small circles, or
letter o's, with dots placed at different
points of the circle. AS can easily be i'm
agined, this system of caligraphy is srf-
ficiently awkward one, and until the eye
gets thoroughly accustomed to the posi-
ton of the dots, it is perfectly maddening
to read. But as the people of Zu-vendi are
not given to the writing of novels, or of
anything except business documents and
records of the briefest character, it an
swers their purpose well enough.